Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A man hit in the throat by a steel cable more than five years ago while riding an ATV through the former Dogpatch USA theme park in Newton County now owns the place, along with his father and attorney. A judge awarded them the land after owners failed to pay a $650,000 verdict in the case, the Harrison Daily Times reports. The cable was stretched across a road in the park, built to play off Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip.

The order transferring the property covers 400 acres, dozens of disintegrating structures and Marble Falls, but not the sometimes-leaking sewage treatment plant nearby that was part of the related failed development of the property, Little Rock attorney Brent Baber said.

Speaking of...

Arkansas Department of Corrections spokesman Solomon Graves issued a press release this morning with details of a small prison riot that apparently occurred last night at the Varner Unit in Grady. /more/

A former inmate who claims she was sexually assaulted over 70 times by former McPherson Womens' Unit chaplain Kenneth Dewitt has filed a federal lawsuit against Dewitt, several staff members at the prison, and officials with the Arkansas Department of Corrections, including former director Ray Hobbs. /more/

Lawyers helping represent the named plaintiffs in the civil rights lawsuit failed against Sherwood over the way they fleece hot check defendants appeared in court this morning to ask a substitute judge to recuse himself, with an attorney for plaintiffs claiming Hamilton made comments praising Sherwood District Court Judge Milas "Butch" Hale III and said he hoped the civil suit would fail. /more/

The Arkansas Judicial Campaign Conduct & Education Committee issued a cease-and-desist letter yesterday to the Republican State Leadership Committee (RSLC), an out-of-state PAC pouring money into the Arkansas Supreme Court race between Circuit Judge Shawn Womack and Little Rock attorney Clark Mason. The Campaign Conduct & Education Committee is a a Little Rock-based non-profit group that aims to expose "false communications ... authorized by third party groups or super PACs," according to its website. The group's letter refers to a campaign flyer issued by RSLC attacking Mason, which the group "contends is a false and misleading reference." /more/

Texas officials have said that Antonin Scalia died of a heart attack. His death will have an immediate impact on American jurisprudence and public policy. /more/

In remarks tonight on Justice Scalia's death, President Barack Obama said, "I plan to fulfill my constitutional responsibilities to nominate a successor in due time. There will be plenty of time for me to do so and for the Senate to fulfill its responsibility to give that person a fair hearing and a timely vote." /more/

Fidel Castro's death and Donald Trump both raise questions about the future of U.S.-Cuba relations. Also: Tom Cotton is apparently God.

An early open line.

Readers also liked…

This just in from state Education Department: Today, Commissioner Johnny Key reached an agreement with Dr. Dexter Suggs that resulted in Dr. Suggs’ immediate resignation as superintendent of the Little Rock School District.

The Arkansas Public Policy Panel is urging supporters of the Little Rock School District to tell state Board of Education members they oppose applications to be heard this week to dramatically expand the number of charter school seats in the Little Rock School District.

Dexter Suggs may have cleared out his office before the workday began today, but he still has lingering legal matters as defendant in lawsuits against him and the state.

Most Shared

Next week a series of meetings on the use of technology to tackle global problems will be held in Little Rock by Club de Madrid — a coalition of more than 100 former democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world — and the P80 Group, a coalition of large public pension and sovereign wealth funds founded by Prince Charles to combat climate change. The conference will discuss deploying existing technologies to increase access to food, water, energy, clean environment, and medical care.

Plus, recipes from the Times staff.

Sen. Jason Rapert (R-Conway) was on "Capitol View" on KARK, Channel 4, this morning, and among other things that will likely inspire you to yell at your computer screen, he said he expects someone in the legislature to file a bill to do ... something about changing the name of the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.

So fed up was young Edgar Welch of Salisbury, N.C., that Hillary Clinton was getting away with running a child-sex ring that he grabbed a couple of guns last Sunday, drove 360 miles to the Comet Ping Pong pizzeria in Washington, D.C., where Clinton was supposed to be holding the kids as sex slaves, and fired his AR-15 into the floor to clear the joint of pizza cravers and conduct his own investigation of the pedophilia syndicate of the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

There is almost nothing real about "reality TV." All but the dullest viewers understand that the dramatic twists and turns on shows like "The Bachelor" or "Celebrity Apprentice" are scripted in advance. More or less like professional wrestling, Donald Trump's previous claim to fame.

Longtime KARK anchor Beth Ward died last night from complications of heart surgery, according to a report from THV11.

Rep. Kim Hendren this week filed a bill to prohibits the use of cell phones, pagers, beepers, digital media players, digital cameras, digital game consoles, and digital video or audio recorders for public students during the school day.